Münster, Sebastian (1489-1552).

folio (304 x 202mm.), ff. 6, [6], pp.610, [3], 611-612, [1], 613-616, [4], 618, [2], 620-683, [2], 683-684, [1], 685-1162, [2], illustration: woodcut border on title-page, woodcut portrait of Münster on verso of title-page, 14 double-page maps numbered 1-14 and 2 double-page town views, numerous woodcut illustrations in text, including maps and 36 double-page town views, woodcut initials, printer's woodcut device on verso of final leaf, binding: seventeenth-century calf, sides ruled in blind, red morocco gilt lettering-piece on spine, occasional early manuscript notes in margins (some trimmed) and underlining in text, title-page slightly trimmed at foot with minimal loss, occasional light water-stains, a few leaves slightly frayed at fore-edge

Sabin 51380; cf. Burmeister 88 & Shirley 92

Münster's Cosmographia, a description of the whole world, was first published in 1544, but the town views were not added until 1550, in an edition published shortly before his death. This definitive edition, of which the present edition is a reprint, also was the first to contain Münster's second world map, an oval projection cut by David Kandel, which replaced the Ptolemaic version that had appeared in earlier editions.